SEOUL: Seoul shares fell on Friday, tracking falls overnight in European markets after Germany reiterated its opposition to the use of euro bonds or monetary tools to help solve the euro zone's debt crisis, deepening worries about the region.
However falls were relatively contained amid hopes about US retail sales during Black Friday, which unofficially kicks off the holiday spending season.
"Worries about Europe are weighing on the broader market, but optimism about Black Friday is lending support to technology issues in particular," said Lee Sun-yeb, a market analyst at Shinhan Investment Corp.
Comments by German Chancellor Angela Merkel about the ECB as European share markets tumbling.
The holiday season was in full swing on Thursday, with retailers hoping US consumers will spend big despite worries about the fragile economy and their own precarious finances.
Foreign investors were sellers of a net 128.8 billion won, poised to sell for a seventh straight session, and also set to post their biggest weekly net sales in 15 weeks.
The Korea Composite Stock Price Index (KOSPI) was down 0.91 percent at 1,778.59 points as of 0150 GMT.
Technology issues outperformed, with LG Electronics , the world's No.3 handset maker, rising 1.6 percent.
Samsung Electronics, the world's No.1 memory chip maker and the No.2 handset maker, rose 0.1 percent.
Shares in Korea Electric Power Corp (KEPCO) rose 4 percent after media reports the knowledge and economy ministry would soon kick off discussions with the finance ministry on electricity tariff hikes.
An economy ministry official confirmed the reports, which fuelled expectations tariff hikes may come within this year.
Nongshim advanced 4.2 percent after the instant noodle maker said it had raised prices of its noodles by 6.2 percent on average, the first such hike in four years.
Hyundai Motor Co and Kia Motors Corp extended losses as a murkier global economic outlook raised concerns of slowing consumer demand.
"The US-Korea FTA ratification provided little support to auto shares. The deal is still going to take some time to kick in, and investor focus is on the more urgent matter of the slowing global economy," said Chae Hee-keun, an analyst at Hyundai Securities.
Hyundai Motor shares were down 3.25 percent, and have fallen every session but one this week.
Kia Motors was down 3.8 percent, poised to record a third consecutive day of losses.
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